PORSCHE finally broke Audi’s three-year American winning streak when their No.17 919 Hybrid prototype took the chequered flag at the Lone Star Le Mans in Texas last Saturday.

The winning car of Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard finished a little more than a minute ahead of the No.7 Audi Sport Team Joest R18 e-tron quattro to claim Porsche’s third successive 2015 World Endurance Championship victory.

The six-hour race, which ran in darkness for the final three hours, looked to have been settled until two-thirds in, when the leading No.17 Porsche was given a 60-second stop/go penalty after a mechanic touched the car during refuelling – forbidden under the regulations.

This was not the only pit drama for the eventual winners as Webber also made a rare error when he overshot the pit after the third stint.

These mistakes handed the lead to the pole-sitting No.18 sister Porsche and from there it looked like a relatively straightforward sprint to the flag and the first win of the season for Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas.